http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Topic: Question from my 4 year old en Sun, 28 Jun 2026 02:39:15 +0000 http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=17983#post-256538 Wed, 02 Aug 2017 19:02:00 +0000 gembo 256538@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>@frenchy, that is what I thought but I drew four centimetres horizontal then up one centimetre and did not look very steep on the page.compared t the close to 25per cent gradients I have gone up and down in Lake District.</p> <p>@arellcat, port Glasgow steep and so is ravelrig hill.</p> <p>You could go off the back of a chopper trying to do a wheelie and through the front bars if you tried to brake. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=17983#post-256537 Wed, 02 Aug 2017 18:32:00 +0000 Arellcat 256537@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>@gembo, I've been doing the long way round in order to get more strength in my legs and more aerobic capacity. Today was a rest day.</p> <p>A few weeks ago I took the torpedo up Ravelrig Road to Balerno, and the effort and the gradient very nearly killed me.</p> <p>@Laidback, yes, the <a href="http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=1784">12 Steepest Ridable Streets in Central Edinburgh</a> ride!</p> <p>If you ignore friction between the rider and the seat cushion, and the tendency to hold onto the handlebars, and the fact that most recumbent riders are clipped in and as Morningsider noted, could hang from the pedals if they so wished, then the answer is much as Cyclingmollie suggested.</p> <p>My training bike has a seat angle of about 15 degrees; it's really 'slammed', as the ricers might put it, similar to Dave's old Raptobike low racer. But almost every recumbent seat has a human body-shaped curve to it, and a sort of kicker to hold the shoulders in place better, rather than being a straight line, so you would have to account for that angle rather than the average seat angle.</p> <p>I've ridden up 1:3 - the footpath in Oban from <a href="https://goo.gl/maps/HA4TvyC6cdQ2">Craigard Road to Ardconnel Road</a> (thence McCaig's Tower). My friend, also on a recumbent, was starting to unload his front wheel, while I was listening to the spokes in my rear wheel protesting against the torque.</p> <p>I have also ridden up (some of) this hill, near Port Glasgow:</p> <p><a href="https://flic.kr/p/c6d5Xb"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7084/7278864928_eac5e8e801_n.jpg"></a><br /> <a href="https://flic.kr/p/c6d5Xb">Test your brakes</a> by <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/beqi/">beqi</a>, on Flickr</p> <p>but on both occasions I was riding my sparkly purple recumbent whose seat back angle is about 70 degrees from horizontal, and thus I would probably need to be cycling up a vertical wall to have much likelihood of sliding backwards off the seat! </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=17983#post-256536 Wed, 02 Aug 2017 18:13:35 +0000 LaidBack 256536@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>A recumbent trike is only limited by traction. Any regular bike tyre only has so much grip.<br /> Trike riders often have a 22t on front. This can 'deliver' an uphill speed of under 2mph. So basically becomes a stationary bike!<br /> Two wheelers are limited on upwards by balance. So under 3mph pointing up hill is technical (ie you can if you have ridden for while)<br /> Unlike DF bikes the weight does go onto back wheel as you can't stand on pedals. If it's wet you'll get wheelspin.<br /> You can't trackstand a recliner but you can go very slowly on some.</p> <p>A few years ago Kaputnik organised a ride round the steepest hills in Edinburgh. Arellcat and I did not walk up any of them. There is a shot of her near Duncan's Land and it looks steep - even on a mobile phone shot. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=17983#post-256534 Wed, 02 Aug 2017 17:13:14 +0000 neddie 256534@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>No one could cycle up a 1:1 gradient without wheelie-ing off the back. That's tough even for walking... </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=17983#post-256528 Wed, 02 Aug 2017 14:57:03 +0000 Frenchy 256528@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>@Gembo - you're out by a factor of two.</p> <p>50% is 1:2, 25% is 1:4 etc. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=17983#post-256527 Wed, 02 Aug 2017 14:56:22 +0000 Cyclingmollie 256527@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Morningsider that is the best answer. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=17983#post-256526 Wed, 02 Aug 2017 14:48:38 +0000 Morningsider 256526@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Lezzles - tell your four year old that the cyclists have their feet clipped into the pedals and probably wouldn't fall out even if the bike was pointing straight up. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=17983#post-256523 Wed, 02 Aug 2017 14:04:04 +0000 gembo 256523@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Low gears would help the recumbent - Standing up not being an option. Is 50% gradient 1:1; 25% gradient 1:2, 12.5% gradient 1:4? If that is right 33% is steep.</p> <p>I wonder what arellcat's torpedo route has been this week I have spotted the red bullet out my way three times this week currie, currie, and Gillespie X road last night. So I can only go with Long way round or very steep hill? </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=17983#post-256522 Wed, 02 Aug 2017 13:38:25 +0000 I were right about that saddle 256522@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>The Contour Road Book of Scotland, Harry R.G. Inglis, Gall and Inglis, 1901;</p> <p><em>Gradients. 1 in 25 is a fairly easy hill, 1 in 20 is stiff, 1 in 15 is steep. Cyclists usually walk up a hill of 1 in 17.<br /> </em> </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=17983#post-256521 Wed, 02 Aug 2017 13:28:43 +0000 Nelly 256521@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I saw a lot of the LEL audaxers yesterday.</p> <p>Refreshing to see so many different bike types, and so many sans lids (which is what annoys me about these profit driven "sportifs") </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=17983#post-256520 Wed, 02 Aug 2017 13:22:31 +0000 Cyclingmollie 256520@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I think I've got this: print out a photo of a recumbent and draw a line on it representing the ground beneath its wheels and another line representing the angle of the back-rest. Now tip the picture up until the angle of the backrest line would be enough to tip the person out and you can estimate the steepness of the hill required by looking at the ground line. That should satisfy a child I think. As alread posted around 33% hills become unrideable for most people (and a lot less for me). </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=17983#post-256518 Wed, 02 Aug 2017 13:16:45 +0000 I were right about that saddle 256518@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>@Fimm</p> <p>Good! (I could not ride up 33%, no way.) </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=17983#post-256514 Wed, 02 Aug 2017 11:56:43 +0000 fimm 256514@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>IWRATS North York Moors. I need to do a (long) post in the "I had a lovely ride today" thread. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=17983#post-256508 Wed, 02 Aug 2017 11:15:17 +0000 I were right about that saddle 256508@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>A 33% hill? Yikes. Where did you find that? </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=17983#post-256506 Wed, 02 Aug 2017 11:02:51 +0000 fimm 256506@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I assume the "long distance cycle race" was actually the London - Edinburgh - London audax?</p> <p>I've never ridden a recumbent, but my fiance and I rode our upright bikes up a 33% hill on Monday, (well, strictly speaking he rode up it and I walked a little bit and then had two more rests) and I'm sure a recumbent would go up that if it had low enough gears...</p> <p>In fact thinking about it some more I don't think there is a difference between an upright and a two-wheeled recumbent in this question, if you look at the forces involved... but it is an extremely long time since I did the A-level maths I'm basing this comment on. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=17983#post-256503 Wed, 02 Aug 2017 10:45:51 +0000 Min 256503@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I don't know how they could slide off backwards as they are in a chair and the back would prevent it. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=17983#post-256502 Wed, 02 Aug 2017 10:44:48 +0000 biketrain 256502@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Are we talking about the rider sliding off the back of the recumbent or the recumbent sliding backwards down a steep hill? </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=17983#post-256501 Wed, 02 Aug 2017 10:33:10 +0000 Lezzles 256501@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>There was lots of people in lycra doing some kind of long distance cycle race through Roslin yesterday. We followed a recumbent up a bit of a hill between Auchindinny and Roslin and my 4 year old wanted to know why they don't slide off backwards on steep hills. Which led to us musing how steep a hill can recumbent go up before they slide off backwards? Or do they have a seatbelt?</p> <p>Note - if you don't answer this clearly enough the first time I'm just going to get the same question reworded for the next month until she's satisfied with the response. </p>